Monday, August 20, 2012

Crew Round 22, Walking. Drawing. (HOU)

Crew leave an incredibly important two points in Houston after allowing the Dynamo to equalize late.

1ST HALF
Both teams came out playing pretty good soccer and were able to control significant chunks of time. As a result of the good soccer, Houston's Oscar Boniek García was able to catch both Crew CDMs jogging and easily moved across the top of the 18 yard box. Boniek found Brad Davis wide open who promptly got the ball on the golden left cleat of his and slammed it home in the 19th minute.

The lead for Houston didn't last long, though. Cole Grossman whipped in a wicked one time / first time goal. Dilly Duka found open space down the wing and placed the ball perfectly to Cole for the assist.

It was a solid first half for both sides.

2ND HALF
Robert Warzycha decided that it was time for the new team signing to stretch his legs and... stretch he did. Fredrico Higuain was very active in the early goings of the second half and assisted on a Eddie Gaven goal in the 58th minute. Interestingly, with a half hour left to play and up 2:1, Hiquain stayed in a forward position. It could be that Columbus is pressing for that all elusive first 3 goal game of the year.

Regardless, Columbus should have been able to hold off Houston without Arrieta or Higuain tracking back - and for the most part they did, save for a sloppy clearance by Chad Marshall which was followed by a disgraceful lack of effort to get back on the ball.

Houston equalized on a 82' Adam Moffat 18 yd blast that Andy Gruenebaum wasn't able to get his hands behind.

THE END, WALKING.

Chad Marshall walked his way back to a playable ball after his whiffed clearance. Lack of effort should never be tolerated. The fact of the matter is this; The Crew haven't been in a playoff spot on the table since the beginning of July. Marshall is Captain of this team. Their battlefield general and a very good player. He is to be held to a higher standard. Warzycha should run him up the flag pole for what happened yesterday.

The Crew played this game about as well as any this year. What could have been stories about Houston's first loss at home, Cole's Redemption for Important Win, or Higuain Impressive in Crew Come from Behind Win was turned into two points missed.

I'm sticking with ~54 pts as what is needed in order to safely gain a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs this year (see last post). This means the Crew need 24 points in their next 12 games which equates to a 2.00 points per game average.

Columbus hasn't had a 2.00 points per game average over a 12 game span since the end of 2009.

It's not impossible, though. It can be done...

This means 8 wins, in next 12.

Or...

7 wins, 3 draws, 2 loss.

Or...

6 wins, 6 draws, 0 loss

Or...

MLS goes clown show and starts whipping out Red Cards (Six over this past weekend) and dishing out ill timed suspensions (Vancouver's Robson) AND just plain old extended extra time to allow team a way back into playoffs... in order to manufacture closer playoff and Supporters' Shield races.